RallyNorth.net

Pinkerton advances to meet Andover in finals

Wednesday, December, 29 By Christopher Smith
Staff writer

METHUEN — Pinkerton’s Danielle Kimball and Katherine Harris both struggled at times during yesterday’s Greater Lawrence Christmas tourney semifinal game against North Andover, but both seniors came up huge in the final minute of overtime.

Pinkerton trailed by two points with less than 1 minute remaining but Kimball, who was just 2 for 8 from beyond the arc, poured in a 3-pointer with 42 seconds left to give Pinkerton a one-point lead.

Then Harris, who had not scored a single point since the first quarter, made a nifty steal off an in-bound pass with 35 seconds left and dribbled to the hoop for a layup to give Pinkerton a three-point advantage.

From there, the Astros held on for a 54-51 victory. North Andover’s Morgan Lumb’s last second 3-point attempt was blocked, sealing the game for Pinkerton.

The Astros will play Andover in the championship game at 7:30 p.m today. 

Kimball wasn’t at all hesitant about shooting her 3-pointer despite missing six prior.

“I try not to let it (missing some 3s) get me down,” Kimball said. “I definitely don’t give up so I think that helps. I just try to keep going and eventually they will go in hopefully. It felt good (to get the one in overtime) since I wasn’t hitting them. Finally, I got one at the right time.”

Pinkerton's Michelle Reid, who had six steals, added about Kimball: “She’s a fantastic shooter. We can always look for her and count on her. We know she’s going to hit the shot even if she hasn’t made it throughout the entire game or she’s having trouble with it.”

Meanwhile, Harris, who was named an Eagle-Tribune soccer all-star this past fall, knew she needed to make her steal with 35 seconds left because of the type of defense Pinkerton was running.

“Coach put us in the 1-press which was a bit of a gamble so my thought was ‘got to get the steal or else there’s no one else back really on that press,’” Harris said. “There was no thought besides stealing it. There was no other option. It’s a 1-press so it overloads the front.  ... They (North Andover) gave us a run for our money.”

North Andover played very well, outscoring Pinkerton 18-10 in the fourth period to send the contest into overtime.

North Andover’s Julia Titone and Pam Coufos both were immense in the fourth quarter. Titone hit for eight points, including netting two 3-pointers, in the fourth. Coufos came off the bench to score six points in the fourth.

One of Titone’s 3-pointers came with 37.3 seconds left to provide her team with a 49-47 lead. 

“(Titone) was awesome,” North Andover coach Sue Breen said. “She had a great game. Pinkerton just made a couple of nice plays at the end. ... It was a good game, a good battle.”

Pinkerton’s Mariah Bonneau scored inside with 9 seconds left in the fourth to tie the game and send it into overtime.

“I was just saying in my head, ‘Hopefully, I’ll make this, this is it,’” Bonneau said. “Michelle (Reid) got the pass to me even though she was trapped.’”

Bonneau finished with 14 points, five rebounds and four steals.

Lindsey Pellerin also played well for Pinkerton, scoring eight points off the bench in the first half.

“She’s been working really hard and she’s got a great jumpshot on the baseline so she’s always there for kick-outs when we’re driving and it’s always nice to have that,” Reid said about Pellerin. “She’s been playing really well.”